On September 22, 2006 I started a life changing journey. I stepped on the scale at 250 pounds and decided I’d had enough. I was tired of being fat. I was tired of being unhealthy. I had high blood pressure, I was dizzy all the time, my body ached from carrying around the extra weight and I was developing diabetes. That meant I would have to inject myself with insulin–something horrifying to me. I wanted a change.

Less than two years later, on August 10, 2008 I stepped on the scale at 150 pounds.

I had reached my goal of losing 100 pounds! It was one of the happiest days of my life. I’d been determined to lose the weight and I did it. Then I kept going! I lost about 10 more pounds.

I am happy with my journey. I did not have surgery. I did not do fad diets. I did it all on my own. I counted calories religiously every day. I wrote them down by hand in a small notepad. Eventually I upgraded to an iPhone App that tracks my calories and exercise.

Michael and I participated in the Reach the Beach bike ride. It was a joy to train for it. It was an exciting adventure the day of the race. And I completed 55 miles on my bike–even though my bike broke the last 10 miles!

I wanted to challenge myself further. I ran Hood To Coast (a 200 mile relay race). I was excited that I was able to participate and complete Hood to Coast without walking!

I was even on the cover of the magazine. I was shocked when the magazine told me that they loved my story so much they wanted me on the cover.

Now, four years later, I weigh about 145 pounds, over 100 pounds less than I used to weigh. I’ve had some ups and downs in those three years, but I feel like I can confidently say, “I lost the weight and kept it off.”

My hope is that this blog and this post inspires other people to lose weight and get healthy. Here’s to another year of weight loss! Thanks for reading!